RaymondLuxuryYacht

We're planning to visit some common sightseeing locations in Germany, and seeking recommendations for the best home bases. Can you help us narrow down the options below?

Rhineland: Short river cruise (half-day or less), castle and town explorations, but not too far afield from Frankfurt due to time constraints.
- Sankt Goar, Bacarach, Bingen or other?

Southern Bavaria ("King's Castles" area): Planning to see Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein and Linderhof castles. Also interest in seeing Mittenwald, due to daughter's interest in violins and the town's violin makers.
- Füssen, Garmisch-Partenkirchen or Mittenwald itself?

Black Forest: Europa Park, but also have a good-sized list of various Black Forest activities.
- Rust (for EP), Freiburg, Staufen or other?

Open to hearing other suggestions, but the goal is to narrow down the above lists and start booking accommodations. Thanks, all!

lavandula

Hi RaymondLuxuryYacht, for the Rhine I would pick Bingen or Mainz if you still want to be a bit close to Frankfurt (my preference would be Mainz, can expand on that if you want). For the Black Forest I would probably pick Freiburg im Breisgau (close to Triberg, Rust, Gengenbach, but Triberg and Gengenbach would be nice to lodge in also). I don't know the castles area as well, and we have someone here (Swandav2000) who lives in Garmisch-Partenkirchen so perhaps I would wait for her or one of the other knowledgeable Fodorites to comment.

Lavandula

RaymondLuxuryYacht

I forgot to add that we'll have a car (except the Rhine portion).

lavandula

Oh, perfect, the trip from Frankfurt Airport to Mainz is about 40 minutes. You can take the S8 (the S-Bahn, a local train). The Rhine cruises can leave directly from Mainz also, and if you get one of the Länder tickets you can go up and down the Rhine as much as you like on local trains, hopping on and off as you please.

Lavandula